


I Should’ve Been There

by GiftOfFire



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 08:00:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27710107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GiftOfFire/pseuds/GiftOfFire
Summary: I just really love Swiftpaw, okay?
Relationships: Brightheart/Swiftpaw (Warriors)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	I Should’ve Been There

The way Brightpaw looked at him, it almost didn’t matter that Fireheart wouldn’t make them warriors.

He would gladly pick ticks off the elders for the rest of his life it meant she would keep looking at him like that.

Swiftpaw’s eyes gleamed with pride as he explained his plan to the apprentices of ThunderClan huddled before him: Ashpaw, Brightpaw, Fernpaw and Thornpaw.

“I think it’s brilliant,” Brightpaw mewed when he finished.

“Then you’re as much of a mouse-brain as he is,” Thornpaw scoffed, “and I doubt you’re serious about this.”

Swiftpaw glared at his fellow apprentice.  
“We’re warriors in everything but name! Whatever it is that’s been stealing prey, it doesn’t stand a chance against  all  of us.”

Fernpaw shuffled her paws nervously, her eyes darting between Thornpaw and Swiftpaw. “I think Thornpaw means to say that it might be dangerous.” Her brother Ashpaw pressed himself closer to her.

“Won’t you at least come with us, Thornpaw?” Brightpaw looked to her friend hopefully.

Thornpaw sank his claws in to the soft bedding of his nest. “Absolutely not. Fireheart  will  get through to Bluestar. We just have to be a little more patient, and—“

“Patience! Don’t talk to me about patience!” Swiftpaw hissed furiously, “We all deserved to be at today’s warrior ceremony—all of us except for that white idiot. Why should he be a warrior when we’ve been training for longer?” Fernpaw and Ashpaw shrank at his anger, flattening themselves in their beds.

Unease clouded Thornpaw’s face for a moment, but the tabby set his jaw and glared at the black-and-white apprentice. “I won’t go. And neither will any of you, if you have an ounce of sense between your ears!”

Swiftpaw snorted. “Fine, suit yourself. But don’t come mewling to me when Brightpaw and I are made warriors tomorrow!” He gave himself a few rough licks and sprang from his nest, flicking his tail across Thornpaw’s nose as he bounded out of the apprentice’s den.

Brightpaw rose to her paws to follow him, but Thornpaw stood hastily to block her exit. “Please, don’t. Just wait a little longer. Swiftpaw only needs to cool his paws for a while and he’ll come back. I know you’re smarter than this,” he pleaded.

Brightpaw met his gaze and looked away quickly. “I can’t just let him go by himself. I’ll bring him back,” and before Thornpaw could stop her, she took off.

“We can’t let Brightpaw and Swiftpaw go alone! C’mon!” Ashpaw cried.

“Yes, we can! We need to stay here. Brightpaw will bring him back,” Fernpaw cuffed her brother’s ear. “Besides,” she added nervously, “Cloudtail is standing vigil.”

“Cloudtail wouldn’t notice a Twoleg monster if it was in the middle of camp!” Ashpaw protested.

Thornpaw watched his fellow older apprentices as they disappeared behind the ferns near the elder’s den. Clouds covered Silverpelt in the night sky above, and dread settled like a stone in the golden tabby’s belly.

_ I need to stay here and make sure Ashpaw and Fernpaw stay put,  _ he thought to himself as he watched the grey siblings squabble.

_ StarClan, I know you’re not watching over us right now, but please watch over them. _

* * *

_ Swiftpaw certainly lives up to his name . _

Brightpaw’s legs burned as she ran to keep up behind Swiftpaw. The lithe apprentice seemed to glide over every stone and root in their path. Every once in a while, he would throw a glance behind his shoulder at Brightpaw. His amber eyes glowed like pale fire and set her pelt ablaze with their intensity.

The longer they ran, the further Thornpaw’s warning faded away from her mind. 

Together, she and Swiftpaw could handle anything in their path.

* * *

The fury of LionClan was in his paws as Swiftpaw ran. He sensed Brightpaw behind him. 

He looked up at the clouded night sky, drinking in the scents of the slumbering forest. The wind passing through his nose, the warmth of Brightpaw’s presence behind him—Swiftpaw felt his body couldn’t possibly contain this much raw energy.

He scarcely noticed the terrain change beneath his paws to the sandy dirt and loose pebbles of their shared border with RiverClan. Swiftpaw skidded to a halt, chest heaving as he dropped in to a crouch near a fallen log.

“Thank StarClan, I thought we’d never make it!” Brightpaw panted, trotting up to stoop beside him.

“Get down and stay quiet,” Swiftpaw whispered. He parted his jaws to take in the scents in the air around him: the brackish tint of RiverClan scent markers, the faint smell of ash from the fire, and suddenly—alarmingly—something Swiftpaw had never smelled before. He looked over to Brightpaw, whose face was scrunched in disgust. She had smelled it too.

“Swiftpaw, what is that?” the she-cat questioned, her eyes wide.

“I don’t know,” he stammered. The fierceness he felt earlier evaporated as he realized the smell was fresh—very fresh.

“Should we head back to camp?” Brightpaw offered nervously.

An overwhelming wave of fear slammed in to Swiftpaw. He couldn’t see it, but he  knew  something’s eyes were on his pelt.

“S-swiftpaw?” 

“Easy, Brightpaw,” he spoke with a confidence he didn’t feel.   
  


He stood, trembling slightly as he padded out from behind their cover. He tried to pinpoint the source of the stench.   
  
He froze when his eyes made out a strange shape in the gloom. Something was curled up and snoring faintly near a pile of boulders.

A deafening bark shattered the silence.

Behind where Brightpaw was still hiding, an enormous black dog bore down on her.

“Brightpaw!” the black-and-white apprentice yowled. The she-cat scrabbled in the direction of his voice.

The hound’s lunge was off-mark, but Swiftpaw’s yowl had roused the other dog— _No, dogs—_ in to noisome wakefulness, ‘til the very stones of the RiverClan border seemed to tremble at their barks and howls.

* * *

Brightpaw’s thoughts were blanketed by a blinding thunderclap of terror.

Her vision seemed to narrow to nothing but Swiftpaw’s bristled tail in front of her as he fled back towards the forest. 

In an instant, she felt hot breath on her scruff. She twisted to throw an outstretched, unsheathed paw at the giant muzzle that threatened to swallow the very world behind her. Her claws raked across flesh and caught in the dog’s rough pelt.

Mad, blood-lusted teeth closed across Brightpaw’s face. Faintly, she heard something pop and agony lanced through her body.

* * *

The edge of the forest was mere fox-lengths away when he heard Brightpaw wail.

Without a second thought, Swiftpaw spun towards the sound, and he felt the earth drop from beneath his paws.

“NO!” Swiftpaw’s anguished cry ripped out of his throat.

He caterwauled furiously and launched himself at the dog that was shaking Brightpaw’s flailing body in its mouth. Swiftpaw sank his own teeth in to the dogs floppy ear.

The beast yelped, throwing Brightpaw back towards the RiverClan border. 

As he tore in to dog’s ear, Swiftpaw heard more barking and snarling. More dogs had followed them. His rage exploded as a dog fell upon Brightpaw’s limp body, shredding her ear and fur.

Swiftpaw hurtled towards her, claws-first. His foe skittered away, yipping and growling. Blood and saliva dripped from its bared teeth.

Desperate love and adrenaline churned inside of Swiftpaw’s body and lent him the hysterical strength to take the prone cat’s scruff beneath him in his mouth and bolt.

Swiftpaw ran with the pack at his heels. For a brief, wild moment, as the trees drew closer and the scents of the pack started to fade behind him, he thought he might make it. Brightpaw’s blood drenched his pelt and she breathed raggedly, but she was alive. 

His hope vanished when he felt teeth as sharp as thorns clamp on to his tail.

Swiftpaw’s body jerked, and with the last of his clarity he flung Brightpaw as far as he could.

The pack set upon him and they fought.

_ As long as I can keep this up— _

He raked a paw across a soft nose—

_ As long as I’m still breathing— _

A dog crashed atop him, driving the breath from his lungs and crushing his ribs—

_ As long as I’m a warrior— _

Swiftpaw snarled and locked his teeth in to the soft neck of the dog above him, his mouth flooding with its foul blood—

_ I won’t let you die— _

Another member of the pack closed its jaws across his neck, and Swiftpaw gasped. It threw him, and he arced high in to the air. 

Before he landed in to the slavering mass of baying beasts, his eyes found Brightpaw.

Blood stained the white of her fur red and pooled beneath her flank.

Snarling, Swiftpaw twisted his body to land with his claws outstretched to the nearest dog. 

* * *

Brightpaw drifted in and out of horrid nightmares and bizarre dreams. 

In one of them, she opened her eyes and Swiftpaw was standing shakily above her, his neck bloody and torn. He opened his mouth and his words were drowned out by a rough chant: “Pack, pack, kill, kill.” 

In another dream, she was on a hunting patrol with Cloudpaw. The large tom spoke to her in a voice like a deep pool. 

Brightpaw knew she wasn’t dreaming when she could feel every bite and wound in her body sing its pain in her pelt. 

She struggled to open her eyes before realizing that she had only one to open. Dawn was giving way to sunrise, and there was no sign of the dogs.

Brightpaw twitched her paws feebly and tried to turn her head to find Swiftpaw.   
  
The apprentice was laying on his side, his stare fixed on her. His amber eyes blazed like pale fire.

_Thank StarClan, he saved us—_

Swiftpaw was torn open from throat to belly, his teeth set in a permanent snarl. 

_Another nightmare._

Relief flooded through Brightpaw as she closed her eyes and waited to meet Swiftpaw again in the waking world.


End file.
